wilkerson



(No Model.)

B. M. WILKERSON.

SOAP.

No. 246,989. Patented Sept. 13,1881.

WWSES. INVENTOR Mm @JWMm v v I M ATTORNEY.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BASIL M. WILKERSON, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

SOAP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 246,989, dated September 13, 1881.

Application filed August 4,1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, BASIL M. WILKERSON, of Baltimore city, State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Soaps and I hereby declare the same to be fully, clearly, and exactly described as follows, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a cake of soap embodying myinvention; and Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view, showing a, modified form of cake.

The ordinary cake of soap for toilet use is rectangular or oval in cross-section, and when in use but a short time the edges, if it had anyoriginally, become worn away, so that the surface of the cake becomes convex. As a consequence, when the soap is laid after use and still [wet upon the wash-stand slab or soapdish, the water flows downward toward the point in contact with the slab, beingimpelled, as it touches the latter, by the attraction of the surfaces of the slab and soap, operating upon a well-known hydrostatic principle; but a narrow area is left for evaporation, which is therefore very slow, and as a result the water softens the soap at the lower side, and a considerable proportion of the soap remains on the slab when the cake is next removed.

The design of my invention is to obviate this eviLand I attain the end by embedding in the surface of the soap a block of porcelain or equivalent material, adapted to serve as a base upon which the block can rest after use, and the water is permitted to drain away freely. By preference this block is made of such form or design as to fit it for subsequent use when the block of soap is used up.

In Fig. l of the drawings, a is the soap-cake, and b a domino of porcelain, opaque glass, or equivalent material, partially embedded therein. Instead of a domino, one or more dice may be used, or a porcelain or glass support for the blades of table-knives, or a china butter-plate. Indeed, the forms of devices in every-day use which are applicable to the purpose of a supporting-base for the soap are innumerable, and others than those mentioned will suggest themselves.

In Fig. 2 is shown a modified form ofdevice embodying my invention, in which I) is afacing for the cake, extending wholly or partially across its face and made of some abrading material, such as a mixture of sand and plasterof-paris or pumice stone, either in the natural state or formed into plates by grinding, mixing with a suitable cement, and molding into shape. The edges 0 in this case are preferably recurved, so as to form an undercutledge to hold the soap and avoid a sharp angle at the sides. In any case the addition to the cake is made at a trifling cost, Wholly inconsiderable in view of the results attained in the use of the soap, even losing sight of the ulterior use of the dominoes, dice, &c. The projecting surface is, furthermore, functionally advantageous in the use of the soap, as it gives a hold, as it were, for the hand in'which the soap is grasped, and it prevents, in great measure, the wear of the cake on the side to which it is attached,whereby it remains embedded in the cake until the latter is almost entirely used up.

What I claim isl. Acake of soap havinga block or base secured thereon and projecting from the surface of the cake to form a support upon which the cake may rest,as and for the purpose set forth.

2. A cake of soap having embedded in or attached to one of its sides an abrading or roughened tablet, forming a base upon which the soap may rest, as set forth.

BASIL-M. WILKERSON.

Witnesses:

R. D. WILLIAMS, W. SEEMULLER. 

